Registro – Peruibe – 109 km
More than happy to get on the bike, the day turned out superb biking as the way
mainly led downhill, the scenery was sublime and a slight tailwind made it easy
biking. We ate fruit from roadside stalls and filled our bottles at mountain streams.
After about sixty kilometres, I persuaded Ernest to turn off the crazy trucking
highway and head southeast towards the coast. Ultimately, a route ran over the
mountains, reaching the shore at Peruibe (meaning ‘shark’ in the Tupi language). Out
of season, camping was available on the beach, where one could fall asleep listening
to the sound of the waves.
Ernest wanted to straighten his new wheel and fix punctured tubes, and an extra day
was spent kicking back in, what felt like, my private little paradise.
A day at leisure allowed for sniffing around and discovering all the exciting sights and
attractions. In the process, I found the Abarebebê Ruins. In the sixteenth century,
the story was that Portuguese settlers enslaved the Tupiniquim Indians to work in
sugarcane plantations. Father Leonardo Nunes (Abarebebe, as the indigenous people
called him) was against this practice. The first church in the region was built on the
rock of Abarebebe, where he was often seen walking.
Peruibe – Guaruja – 122 km
The further north we proceeded, the lusher the landscape and the more vicious the
mosquitos. The coastline was picture pretty revealing white sandy beaches; this was,
after all, Brazil’s Costa Verde. After missing the shortcut to Guaruja, the alternative
road turned out hilly but stunning and ran around the port of Santos.
Guaruja was, in fact, an island as the area was surrounded by water. Being a touristy
beach town, it provided plenty of hotels but no camping. Instead, people strolled the
beachfront and sat at sidewalk cafes; the balmy weather made it perfect to be out.
At first, I thought of climbing to the viewpoint, but I had no energy.